


Demon On My Tongue.

by SS98



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Bottom Louis, Demon Harry, Demons, Dom Harry, Hell, M/M, Married Louis, Minor Character Death, Mpreg, Mpreg Louis, No Smut, Paranormal, Pregnant Louis, Psycho Harry, Sassy Louis, Scared Louis, Scary Harry, Screaming, Supernatural Elements, Top Harry, booooo, lol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-21
Updated: 2017-07-11
Packaged: 2018-05-08 04:25:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 14,725
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5483282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SS98/pseuds/SS98
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry is a demon and wants what's inside Louis. (He also wants Louis).</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**_[A/N: Mpreg. Blood. Anti-Christ. Violence. Murder (Character Death). Demons (duh). Biggest and scariest warning ever: Louis is not married to Harry. Yeah have fun. - S xx]_ **

_C'mon in, an angel who fell in love with a demon._

"Honey, you home?" George drops his car keys into the porcelain bowl Louis finely constructed at a pottery class they both went to a month ago. It's painted with little green hearts and even greener flowers. 

"In the studio." Louis' voice comes floating back to him, making him chuckle.

On his way to officially and personally greet his pregnant better half, George grabs a bottle of ginger beer for Louis and toes off his shoes. Beside his boots is a pair of floral Vans that are _never_ in line with one another. It's one of the quirks George loves in his husband.

He follows the same route to their studio that Louis spent hours at day and night inside, painting or sketching away. George brought home a bonsai tree once from the florist next to his office and Louis has since acquired two more so the first isn't lonely, all three housed in their studio.

It smells of harmless paint and Louis' fragranced lotion when George waltzes in, humming Louis' favourite song because it played on the radio and embraces the younger male around his middle, hands splayed out over his baby bump.

"Good day to you, Sir." Louis turns around giggling, lowering his brush to kiss George's forever chapped lips. "How was work?"

"Irrelevant." George kisses Louis' forehead after the exotic taste of strawberries comes from the boy's lips. "What are you working on, love?"

Louis returns to his painting, paint smears across his neck and arms. Even on his _forehead_. "I don't know."

George looks up from where he's watching his hands rub Louis' healthy bump, a little stunned to see a pair of foreign eyes staring back at him.

On Louis' new canvas with the price tag still on it, are the eyes of someone absent from their lives. George would know eyes like this, remember the deep green of their irises and the thick eyebrows that are marginally expressive. There was skin of the face carrying those frighteningly beautiful eyes, just them alone like portals to a dimension. 

Louis admired his most recent work of art and without knowing it, felt himself staring into the paint like it had life. He saw into those eyes like they were real and could draw him into a world as marred as them. How tragic and how exquisite would a soul like that be? 

"Come on." George put down everything inanimate and lifted his lovely spouse off the ground. Those eyes were too unnerving even for a painting. "Let's feed you and mini me."

"Mini _you_?" Louis crowed, outraged as he was carried out of the room. 

"Yes, honey." 

George moved to kick the door closed and Louis looked back into the room for a moment. With such a quick glance, he could almost breathe a promise to say those green eyes weren't looking at the basket of plastic fruit by the left wall anymore, but at _him._

"What's for dinner?" Louis sat on the oldest couch they owned from their first apartment together that has more duct tape and patches of nylon that original upholstery.

"Anything you fancy." George was on his knees, pressing his lips to Louis' bare baby bump with his hands framing its roundness. 

"The baby and I want-" Louis' wedding ring reflects the fading sun's rays as the night creeps closer. "-apricots and ice cream."

George chuckles and kisses Louis' belly button. Their baby is in the middle of the second trimester, getting them closer to announcing the gender. He got off the floor and draped a quilt over Louis' cross-legged form, handing him the remote. 

"Your soaps should be starting now." He says to Louis as he leaves him with a cold ginger beer.

"You know I hate those." Louis pouts and coincidentally lands on one right that instant. 

"I'm sure." George smirked as he observed his husband fail to switch channels and start watching a loud, dramatic soap opera. "Is the baby okay with Chinese for tonight?"

"Yes." Louis hardly raises his voice, too enthralled by the doings of a mother turned wife turned concubine. 

"I'll order and go fetch it before it gets dark." 

George picks up the handset from the wall while Louis distractedly waves off his attempts at making conversation. He dials the nearest take-away joint as the number is committed to memory and orders what he knows Louis would want, along with what to leave in the microwave when Louis wakes up in the middle of the night wanting more.

He is told that the order will take twenty to thirty minutes and it takes him ten to drive there. Louis is nibbling on his fingernails until George replaces that with a bowl of cashew nuts. Falling on his back, he puts his head on Louis' lap and tries to understand _anything_ that's going on with the television.

"The baby should not be watching these things." George leans into Louis' hand when the boy starts dragging his fingers through his hair.

" _I_ shouldn't be watching this." Louis laughs, lowering his gaze to George then back to the TV.

There, right in the corner between the small cabinet that held all their DVD's and the wall closing off the left side, stood a figure Louis saw with his own eyes. It had to be a figure beside their potted plant that had a black silhouette and two sparkling orbs where its head should be. Before he can scream about it, the concubine begins to mourn and the figure is gone.

Louis chews his bottom lip and goes back to stroking George's hair, putting that mirage down to fatigue. In spite of needing all the sleep he can get, at night he finds himself walking around the apartment chasing after some unbidden presence that's all in his head. 

He blinks tiredly at his husband. "Care for some tea? The ginger beer is flat now."

George hums and let's Louis get up with a cautious hand on his back, watching his lover waddle into the kitchen. Louis sighs as he sets a kettle to boil on the stove and gets two mugs from the cupboard, setting a teabag in each and finding the sugar. 

There's a moment frozen in time when he swears he feels something inexplicably cold touch his hip where his shirt rode up. He gasped at the icy contact but it was so fleeting that he couldn't escape it. A breeze swept past his nape and over his lips, the mysterious taste of honey being left on them. Louis firmly believes that he's either going crazy or watching too many horror movies.

"Honey?" George calls from the doorway, Louis' ears prick at the sound of keys jingling.

"Yeah?" Louis hesitates before pouring the boiled water into his mug.

"I'm going to get the food. Raincheck on the tea please."

"Alright. Love you." He calls back urgently when he hears the door open.

"Love you too!" And it slams shut.

The apartment falls into silence, tangible silence that Louis can feel on his tongue when he inhales the air. He pays attention to the process of making his tea and listens to the ticking of the clock above the kitchen island. The TV is still on, adding life to this otherwise dead atmosphere.

His regret fills his system from bowels to brim when that cold breeze hits him again, now familiar to his senses. He puts his hand on his baby bump when a throbbing ache begins to cause him agony from there, rooted to the same source of nutrition his baby is.

He thinks he can handle the pain but it becomes too much, too stifling and twisting around his insides like a vice. His arm knocks down the tea mug and he doubles over in anguish, crying out from the ringing in his ears and drop in the temperature.

The hairs on his nape stand to attention, freezing in stagnant poses facing the sky. Along with it, his heart begins to beat a mile a minute in his chest and violently echo around the ribcage surrounding it. His terror is raw and unpleasant, clawing up his throat to suffocate him.

His spine is paralysed when that breeze, much more firm and concentrated, lands on his bare skin. Instead of shrieking when the air touches him in the shape of a hand, something suppresses his panic so he's forced to remain calm. On the inside his mind his running crazy with fear but the hand slides up to his shoulders and pulls him upright. 

Whoever it is, stood right behind him.

The only instinct that mattered was the one to protect his baby from this paranormal threat. He put both hands over his bump and tried to level out his breathing but the pain was worsening and all he could do was shriek whenever a flood of horrendous sensations came over him.

 _"Dependenta mea."_

Louis' first tears spilled down his face when he heard the voice speak in his heard, silky and soft. He gripped the counter with all his might and couldn't move to defend himself, to _get away._ All that he's been afraid of or imagining is here, built up to this moment. He was never crazy.

Moments like this have existed on a lesser scale for him. A cup moved a little to the left or his discarded sweatpants were suddenly folded on a weekend when George wasn't around. The most terrifying part is that he was never afraid of it no matter how much he knew it had to be malignant.

"What-" He wiped away the dampness below his nose. "What do you want?"

Behind him stood a man, with a mask that almost had no face. Skin so pale that it was page white, starched and void of life until it's nearly transparent. Where a living person had pink or red tints because of that life, that blood flowing through their veins, this entity is black. Running across the crevices under its arms and around its neck, black powdering like a permanent shadow. 

Lips that were sewn shut, twitched as its head tilted to the side out of such opaque interest. Those threads that sealed this demon's mouth closed were ancient like him, seeing all those centuries with him through the punishment of having nothing by its side. 

"What do you want?!" Louis shouts again, clutching his front with two hands now and tears streaming down his face. 

Most powerful were those maleficent creature's eyes though, telling anyone or anything that looked upon him about that misery. _"Dependenta mea."_

It is the only two words that the demon is allowed to speak with those stitches sewn through his lips. Living alone for millennia that meant nothing, and he finally gets to meet his addiction.

Louis was shaking like a leaf when he turned around, finding the bravery and strength when his unforgiving feeling of being martyred finally expires. He catches himself mid-scream upon seeing the sight that is revealed to him. Pasty skin that's pulled taut over a skeleton of bones, leaving him withered and looming at a height greater than Louis'.

That _face_ with those eyes that Louis seemed to recognise from all those dreams, all those nightmares. He knows that irreplaceable shade of green paired with those forever wet ringlets of black hair, clinging to the sides of the demon's hollowed cheeks. His overall appearance was only frightening because of his mouth, the bags beneath his eyes being sucked into his face rather than bulging outward. 

"I-It's you." Louis gasps, his hand coming up to his mouth as a reflex. 

Unfortunately the choice of side made it his left and his wedding ring elicited a loud knuckle-crack sound from the demon before those green eyes melted into pitch black so the cloud took over his entire eye.

Louis faltered in his step back and he tripped, landing on his bum with a cry and small sob. He secures both sides of his bump to shield his baby from the force of the impact, but his own body is sore from where it hit the ground. Never lifting his eyes from the creature stalking him, Louis swallows thickly and watches it follow him when he scrambles backward.

"Leave me alone!" He shouts desperately, crawling backwards on his elbows but getting nowhere because the demon followed him each inch away he took.

 _"Dependenta mea."_

When he heard these words again from a person, an _entity_ he didn't feel was friendly, it took a blink of time before it moved from in front of him to over him. Louis screamed when suddenly that haunted face was inches away from his, cold breath fanning over his face. 

The contrast was beautiful and traumatising. Louis had golden skin with rosy thin lips. The figure hovering above him with arms at his sides pressed flat on the ground, had skin so thin and frail that it was a step below cracking with every stretch it made.

Pale fingers reached out and brushed Louis' neck. The contact burned and when the boy tried craning away from it, his skin was doused in flames. His head rolled back against the floor, arms slipping against the waxed wooden panels. He bit his lip to try and keep from having any physical interaction as best he could, heart leaping into his mouth. 

There was nothing he could do when he felt old, hard lips crash into his and the taste of something aged filled his senses. He resisted but hands stronger than his rendered that moot, the stench of a rotting heart and soul crippling his youth.

Time keels over just as the taste of salt mixes in with the stale odour that is the demon's breath making its way down Louis' throat. One by one the seams of the cotton penetrating its lips pluck free and vanish, leaving a pair of bleeding lips to smother Louis'

Meeting Louis has meant that for the demon, freedom to do what he came here to do. _"Acest copil este al meu."_

Louis didn't understand what was being whispered to him and when he was abruptly pulled up so his back wasn't on the floor anymore, a hand grasped the side of his face. Without the implication of a body that needed more space than a human, this demon held its face inches away from Louis' and admired all the features on this beautiful being.

The demon repeated itself. _"Acest copil este al meu."_ But for some unknown reason, even as he spoke in a strange language Louis could now understand what he was saying.

"No!" He cried out and tried to free himself. 

The demon became angry and made a horrendous sound that hurt Louis' ears, his hands pinned when he tried to cover them. The noise crept into his auditory canal and festered like an electronic echo, splitting open his skull.

 _"Acest copil este al meu."_ The demon could now speak with its mouth open, and rather than dagger or blunt teeth it revealed none at all. All his molars had turned black and rotted with age, falling away as he resisted mating until _this moment._

"This baby is not yours!" Louis spat at him, his hands rounded over his bump but the demon's hands were larger and didn't fail to feel more protective.

The demon's shrill screech was made audible to everything but Louis even if the boy knew it was happening. It was meant as a show of loyalty, to say that this demon would never hurt him.

 _"Dependenta mea. Acest copil este al meu."_

Louis started to cry fresh tears and the demon leaves black streaks across his cheeks when he wipes them away. "This baby isn't yours."

Angered, the demon growls and disappears just as Louis hears the front door being wrestled with. He hastily stands up, wavering on his feet when a dizzy spell takes over his centre of gravity, but a pair of invisible hands pointed at the fingertips secure him against the counter. Fearful, he dashes out of the kitchen and away from those hands.

"Hey." George walks in with a packet carrying their dinner and takes in Louis' startled appearance. "Something wrong? Is it the baby?"

Louis stops looking at the kitchen's microwave oven where just recently the black shadow moved away from. He shakes his head when George touches his cheek and kisses his forehead. "I'm okay. Knackered and starving."

They eat in quiet chatter and Louis does his utmost best to keep up with George's work tales for the day. He is too distracted by every sight and sound that resembles any detail of the demon's presence. His shoulders felt lighter rather than heavy and his skin has permanent goosebumps. Why he isn't telling George is beyond him but he's also aware that as he has an atheist for a husband, George will never believe him.

Just before bed he's standing in front of their bathroom mirror staring at his reflection in mild shock. Those black oil streaks are still on his cheeks, still painted onto his skin so that nobody but he can see them.

  
* * * * *  


"Honey!" George comes home two days later after forty-eight hours of no supernatural occurrences in Louis' life. "I'm home."

"In the studio!" Louis replies, trailing off at the end as he's too drawn into the pair of sewn lips he's sketching with coal. 

The demon may not have made any stunt appearances but that didn't mean it couldn't haunt every one of Louis' dreams. Green eyes were all he saw at night, green eyes and blackened lips that had been sewn together to keep him from speaking more than the words that were necessary.

"One second." George says to the person he brought along with him for dinner. "Make yourself comfortable, Harry."

"Thank you." Harry smiled politely and shedded his coat to drape it over a hanger.

George made his way down the hallway to the studio, knocking on the white painted door before stepping through. "Hey, Lou."

"Aha." Louis had black fingers and dishevelled hair, his eyes darting from contour to stroke as he completed the neat stream of cotton over these particular lips.

"Remember-" George wraps his arms around his lovely husband and breathed in his coconut scented shampoo. "-when I said I was bringing a colleague home for dinner?"

"And do you remember-" Louis set his drawing instruments down and brushed the top lip he had drawn with his finger to smudge the wrinkles a little bit. "-that I wasn't going to cook?"

George chuckled and kissed Louis' shoulder where his large T-shirt was hanging off. "I take it you ordered something?"

"Yes." Louis pried his attention away from those eyes hung above his drawing stand paired with the horrific lips he'd recently put on paper. "It's in the kitchen."

"Okay." George took Louis' hand and led him out of the studio. "Let's go clean these hands of yours."

Louis pouted but followed dutifully anyway to the bathroom of their bedroom, letting George wash off his hands for him whilst never letting go of the sight that is those black lines across his cheekbones. They hadn't lifted or even faded yet.

"Want to change your shirt?" George gives him the option. He isn't shamed of his petite husband's tendencies to dress lazily in front of guests. 

"No." Louis shook his head and walked out with him to the living room in socks, treading lightly on the ground.

Two footsteps away from their lounge area and he knew something was wrong. He brushed it off though because the kitchen has always been somewhere he never belonged, and after his incident with a creature that still hadn't made its intentions clear he distanced himself from it further.

"Harry." George walks in ahead of him, calling Louis' attention to their guest. "This is my husband, Louis. Louis, Harry is the new auditor at the office."

Louis raises his gaze from the floor to the person whose hand he's supposed to shake, but one glance was enough to leave him fighting for air. He pulled his shirt down over his baby bump and stared at the hand extended towards him, lifeless and contemplative.

Harry's face was a familiar one. One that Louis hates is known to him. Like lightening Harry's visage flickered and Louis saw the demon from two nights ago smiling at him with no teeth. The only feature that remained true was the mesmerising green shade of his eyes.

Add plumpness to the demon's sideburns and he gets Harry's cheeks. More like in the dripping wet hair made Harry's chocolate curls that stopped at his shoulders. Breathe blood into his system and frail white became healthy golden. Those long, claw-like fingers were blunt now and had three rings wrapped around them.

Louis' mind turns to dysfunctional porridge and his mouth opens but no words come out. Harry's lopsided smile becomes confused and George stutters in saying something that Louis can't hear. The blood is pounding in his ears and his chest got so tight that his inhales were decayed to sickly wheezing.

George was trying to explain something to Harry but Harry's eyes were focused on the boy who stood behind him. He was staring right back at Louis, parting his lips in their pursed form and breathing in what Louis let out.

"I know who you are." Louis finally brought himself to say, making his own husband turn to him. 

"Lou?" George tried to gather a semblance of reason but Louis was looking at Harry with a steady glare.

Harry's head tilted to the side and Louis saw that face again. While Harry was impassive, the demon that took him over to attain Louis smiled. 

"I know _what_ you are." Louis said again, sweat pouring down his back.

"Louis, what are you talking about?"

Harry waited for more. Louis has to say it.

Unbeknownst, Louis muttered the words that confirmed Harry's response. "This baby isn't yours."

George had turned red in the face but Harry's arm swept out and knocked him out, using unseen strength to pin his unconscious form up on the wall. Harry's fingers curled inward and George's body began to convulse. Louis heard the cracking of knuckle and bone, covering his face when he screamed. 

_"Dependenta mea. Acest copil este al meu."_

"No!" Louis resisted when Harry stepped up to him and cupped the side of his face, skin burning with tears and the dread that filed out of his pores. "Leave my family alone!"

Harry's expression hardened and he spoke English in a crisp accent, whilst the demon's language bounced around Louis' skull. "Say the baby is mine."

Louis watched George's form being squashed into a space too small. His body was closing in on its self and his vital organs were pierced by the splinters of broken bones.

"Don't hurt my baby." Louis hoped his desperation shone through his eye contact with those mossy green eyes, the only thing that's alive about Harry. "Pl-Please."

Harry frowned and looked down between them at the growing unborn. He could hear the heartbeat and feel its life. "My baby will never see harm."

"Stop!" Louis grabbed Harry's arm to lessen the pressure on George but it was like yanking on steel. "Please stop hurting him!"

Harry watched Louis in vivid fascination. He stared at the boy's neck with wide eyes and dropped his free hand to Louis' protruding bump. "Say the baby is mine."

Louis was being worn down and his abdomen was beginning to hurt, throbbing from the stress on it. He sobbed loudly and watched Harry's hand get tighter in its fist, awful crushing noises coming from George's form. His body was mutilated on the inside, ripped apart and dying quickly.

Nodding to give in, Louis punches Harry's chest and the demon drops his husband. Harry pulls the boy into his embrace and kisses his forehead. He can do that now. He rubs Louis' back in slow, cautious strokes.

"The baby is mine." Harry's voice has melted to the demon's husk again. 

Louis has no choice but to cry into Harry's chest. He fists the fabric of this man's shirt and feels the pain in the home of his baby fade away. 

"He will forget you." Harry said about George. "You will be mine now and forever."

"W-Will you kill me?" Louis was shaking so violently but Harry shook his head, placing his face in Louis' neck. 

"I did not wait this long to kill you." Harry got down on his knees and tore Louis' shirt so he had direct contact with the sleeping life-form yet to see the world. "This baby is mine."

**_[A/N: Disappointment? I know. Sigh. - S xx]_ **


	2. Chapter 2

Not a single person from their lives before remembered them. Becoming acquainted with a demon named Harry - there was no other option to call him - changed Louis' life and he mentions 'they' for the most obvious reason. His baby was born a month ago, after Harry made certain everyone from their old lives had forgotten them.

How it worked, Louis did not know. One day many months ago he had friends and family who stuck together through thick and thin. Now all their names and details were erased from his memory or any physical object. It hurt his body to try and remember so he refrained from it.

Harry also did not stick around every single day after he almost sucked George's life out of him by the cracking of his bones and splintering of his organs. He disappeared and Louis never saw him again until his water broke. Since then he hasn't been out of Harry's sight. 

Today he woke up at the regular hour of two in the morning when the baby monitor beside his head became active. His little angel was a month old, born with the name Edward George, before taking Louis' own last name. Harry played no part in his son's naming though he considered the boy to be his own.

The similarities when sweet Blue - Louis nicknamed the baby boy that after Edward took every opportunity to focus on the colour on any surface - was born and the demon was _impossible_. He had curly locks of dark chocolate brown hair and deep blue eyes that were waiting to have the emotions within it told in a voice. His skin was as alabaster and pale as Harry's, with the exact same discolouration beneath his eyes.

It was an absolute sin to have those tired bags beneath Blue's eyes when he's so small, so innocent. 

Louis forced his eyelids to open when they were lead heavy and stubborn. He yawned in oblivion for a moment before he noticed the weight of a hand, solid as a boulder, encasing his right hip. His yawn stopped immediately and he froze from the molten sensation creeping inside his veins to his heart.

Harry slept in his bed every night without permission or a word to the other. He never touched any part of Louis except for his hip where it was right now, and when nude the naked eye could make out the frightening bruise his hold left behind.

"I need to go to Blue." Louis croaked, so accustommed to this arrangement that he no longer choked on his own breath or felt tears brimming anymore. 

Immediately the hand was lifted and Louis felt a bit lighter. He uncovered himself from the comforter, ignoring the weight of the demon's body lying atop it, and woke up. His back was to Harry and that didn't change all the while up until he exited the room. 

Blue slept in the nursery across from Louis' bedroom and he wandered in there with a disturbingly tight feeling in his chest after not pumping or breastfeeding for hours now. He yawned and pushed his hair out of his eyes, letting the partially sealed door creak as it slid open. 

Upon flipping the dim light on, Louis nearly screamed when he saw his little Blue in the cradle of Harry's arms. 

The demon had Blue calmly dozing in his embrace, looking down at the infant without any expression. Louis saw that his human lips were set in a line but the flickering image of a far more formidable appearance, white skin and black patches, had a smile of sewn lips plastered on its face.

Louis screwed his mouth into a horrible scowl. He marches around to the other side of Blue's crib. "Give him back."

Harry raised his gaze from the precious Blue's restless limbs to Louis' frustrated narrowed vision. The demon smirks in both forms and steps closer to the only human besides the baby he's holding he has his eye on. His thumb brushes Blue's back and his senses fill with the smell of a sleepy baby. 

When Harry opens his mouth to speak, it comes out as garbled English that Louis has mastered the art of understanding. "I will not harm what is mine as well."

Louis passes him a threatening glare that has become profoundly common in their lives because it was the safety of his baby that mattered. He smiles at the infant who is gurgling nonsense and yawning with a tiny pair of lips. 

"Hi, little Blue." He cooes at the baby who is enveloped in the security he offered. 

Harry hadn't moved an inch when Louis turned around to leave the room, his shirt lifted slightly so Blue could latch onto his nipple. Louis padded out of the nursery towards his own bedroom, hoping to have some peace of distance between Harry and him.

That plan failed the instant he was back in there, sighing heavily when Harry was seated at the foot of his bed in ordinary clothing looking like he belonged.

"Can I have some privacy?" Louis tried many a time to rile Harry up but the demon was impassive at most times and never erupted into something volatile. 

"No." Harry answered him as if the question itself amused him. 

The demon remains hostile and motionless where he sat staring scorch marks into Louis' back as the latter walked around the room nursing his only remaining love.

Louis can't help but smile brilliantly down at little Blue, truly over fond of his baby boy more than anything. He's willing to keep himself alive and _happy_ for Blue even if there may lie nothing else in the world worth living for. Harry is indirectly turning his existence into a haunted tiresome horror movie but little Blue with his shocking navy eyes and freckled tummy made the sun shine brighter.

"We're especially hungry today, huh?" He supports the back of baby Edward's head, trying not to let his winces show from sensitivity. 

Blue's tiny hand was flat over his chest, fingers curling and flailing against his mother's skin. Louis was tempted to hum a small tune he learnt in his own childhood, so he could force them both to forget about the third unwanted presence behind them.

Louis looks up from his baby to the mirror and a rapid sigh of relief flows out of him to see that Harry isn't at his tail anymore. The joy evaporates when he turns to his left towards the minute crystal window he wanted installed because colour crystal made the prettiest shadows. Harry stood blocking it off, his bulky arms folded over his chest but the stormy frown he's cast over his features is most unsettling.

"Stop _doing that_." Louis hisses, protecting his baby with his arms concealing him.

Harry smirked again, a cruel and distasteful smirk that allows a pair of dimples to be visible. One is deeper than the other, adding to his misleading demeanor of charm and physical appeal. The demon could make himself to be the worst of the worst on the eye but he wanted to be worthy without stating it. 

Behind his human visage, Harry allowed Louis a peek of his demon form with sealed lips and eyes darker than the afterlife. He spoke again in a hurried robotic voice that made Louis the only one able to comprehend it. "Why are you still afraid of me?"

"Seriously?" Louis spits, has become brave enough to do so because he knows Harry won't act out. "How can you ask me that?"

Harry silences him with a clouded glare from the demon and not his human self that renders thunderstorms and crying babies. "I will prove myself to you."

Louis scoffs and checks to see that Blue is actually still munching away, now numb to the sensitive sparks coming from his nipple. He walks out of the room without a word more directed at the demon, his anger allowing itself to boil when it shouldn't. Being away from Harry allows him the peace he needs to relax and pay attention to his little one.

Blue falls asleep after he's gotten his fill and Louis has to burp then rock him into tranquility. The baby's eyes slip slowly shut and he yawns coincidentally at the time that Louis does. 

"Dream sweet, Blue." Louis kisses the baby's forehead and walks him back to bed. He'll sleep better when they're together.

Bending over the edge of the bed, Louis lays Blue down in a soft cradle of baby pillows and a fleece blanket. He crawls underneath the covers himself afterwards, remaining on his side to watch Blue's breathing. On his back the baby rested, lips slanted and parted with his head rolled to the side.

"I know you're there." Louis sighs, truly tired of something he _can_ put his finger on. Harry was behind him and he was certain of it.

The demon made his way around to the other side of Blue and suddenly he was mirroring the position Louis was in, except a little more protective in how he curled his body. Blue was oblivious and Louis didn't care to wake him because at the end of it all, he knew by the instances he caught Harry with Blue, that the demon had no intention of hurting the most innocent one amongst them.

Harry's eyes briefly met Louis' and in some emotional weakness phase, Louis felt disheartened at the type of bleakness that existed in those black eyes. They had to have had life in them at some point but now they were dead, soulless and empty.

"Your eyes are-" Louis stops himself. He shouldn't say stuff like that aloud to creatures that can end him.

"Say it." Harry prompted, in a voice that's a remix of every soul he's ever claimed. 

Louis listens to himself do as told. "Your eyes are sad, Harry."

The demon is slightly taken aback by this observation. He blinks with no response for a while, staring down at where Louis' hand was shielding Blue's chest.

"As are yours." Harry replies, lying in an almost awkward position on his side. 

"I'm not sad with Blue." Louis shares a pillow with his baby, thumb brushing over Blue's tiny chest. "You really won't hurt him, will you?"

"No." Harry frowns, tired of being asked this yet still doubted. "My life is dedicated to him."

As if he realises these two adults are bound to disturb his sleep, Blue shifts and makes a soft noise with his nose. He almost rubs at it but Louis stops his nails from coming in contact with the fragile skin, replacing the scratch with a tender kiss. 

Harry observes the whole interaction and he finds that Blue actually does hold a part of him hostage. He's about to leave because the situation has grown to make him uncomfortable, but something physically holds him back and it happens to be a baby's fists wrapped around his thumb.

"Don't." Louis is the one to say, more like command because it has to do with his newborn. "He'll wake up again."

The demon doesn't care much for the cries of an infant when he can easily escape it but it's Louis' fingers on his forearm and Blue's _tiny_ appendages on his single one that's enough of a case. He remains still and let's Blue hold onto him like the baby knew him, saw through him yet still wanted to touch him.

  
* * * * *  


Things went to Hell - pun unintended - a week later when the inactivity of Louis' whearabouts to and from his apartment led a few neighbourhood thieves to believe that a home full of valuables was unattended. 

He was in the studio painting with the last tubes of acryllic paint he had while Blue slept upstairs. Louis knew Harry was upstairs with him but chose not to pay attention to that particular bit of information. As much as Louis despised the thought of his baby enjoying the company of the forsaken demon, he had to let it be for a few sessions at a time. 

The first thing he heard was shuffling in the living room outside the room he was in currently, and it made him frown because Harry _never_ made any sound. He paused in the middle of his stroke against the canvas, listening closely to any other noise.

A hand closed over his mouth and Louis screamed for all the life he had in his lungs. None of the sound escapes because the hand sealing them in was consistent. The scent that filled his senses was familiar and mingling with his favourite smell in the whole world. He settled down when a firm torso pressed against his back, warmth radiating of it onto his skin.

"Be quiet." Came the rough voice into his prickly ear, the ghost of lips dragging over them. "Others are here."

He was flipped around without permission, an arm secured so tightly around him that it nearly suffocates him. Louis is faced with Harry's unsightly visage, beady eyes narrowing on him as if warning him not to speak. He forfeits his sass when he looks down and there is his precious little baby. Blue is bundled up and protected in the crook of Harry's arm. 

"Others?" He worries for his baby's safety more than his own, panic welling in his throat. 

Harry doesn't comfort him more than a ghostly sensation across Louis' lips that coax him to silence. "Uninvited others."

"Oh God." He gasps, covering his mouth before realising his slip-up. "Sorry."

Something quirks the corner of Harry's mouth as he quickly casts a downward glance at Louis. Louis himself thought he'd see himself turn grey before he witnessed a demon's smile. For now though, he focuses on his fidgety little one who sees him and purposely smiles all for him.

Blue squirms about until Louis picks him up carefully with both hands, settling the infant against his heartbeat. Shortly after, wind whips around him and Harry's presence is no longer accurate. The demon vanished and left Louis standing isolated in the middle of his studio feeling terrified with a baby in his arms.

He's about to hurry for safety when Louis hears the lock of his studio door click so its in place and he's almost tempted to roll his eyes because he knew Harry had done it. A tiny part of him felt reassured that Harry did it to protect them rather than hurt them, but to this day he isn't clear on the demon's agenda.

Louis sits on the floor by the window in silence, holding Blue's hand and kissing his fingers. He was on edge and distracted even though he was safe. He couldn't hear a thing that went on in the rest of the apartment for the next few minutes but he's certain he wouldn't want to see or hear anyway. The noise just outside his door dies down and Louis feels sweat roll down his temple in anticipation. He covers Blue's ears and hears the baby sneeze softly as he's hugged to Louis' chest.

The maternal instinct that flared in him to protect his baby was right, for suddenly there was little space for him to keep himself sane. The _sounds_ that crept underneath the door and sneaked up on him were loud and unmerciful, bringing tears to his eyes as he brought his knees up and cocconed Blue. 

Screams of the intruders were hoarse and choking was loud, abrupt gagging noises. They sounded like they had been in pain their entire lives. Harry was doing the unimaginably cruelest thing and Louis didn't care to know or help them. 

He fell asleep to pleas and shouts filling his ears, his shirt serving as a barrier for Blue against the cold floor while he stayed prone to it.

  
* * * * *  


When Louis awoke he wasn't on the floor. He was in bed under a few covers, a pillow at his head and a fresh shirt on his body. His mind almost dragged him back to a time when he had another adult under this roof, a person that did all those things for him and more. That's not all there is anymore because just as he blinks awake, the curious babbles of an infant attracts his attention.

Blue is propped up lazily with multiple pillows cradling his little self. He smiles at Louis and drops the plush toy in his hand to crawl in a wobbly manner towards his mother.

"Hello, baby Blue." Louis aids his baby by picking him up and tucking him in close against his chest.

Blue produces spit bubbles through his pouty, parted lips as he fails to communicate intelligably. Louis giggles at his baby's antics and kisses his tiny whisps of hair. His hand is on Blue's tummy after he's drawn the covers up to warm them both up, body curled around his son. At the back of his mind, he knew who did all this for him. 

"What were you up to then?" He asks his adorable baby, straightening out the sweetheart's onesie at his legs. His baby's feet were so cold that he had to gently grab hold of them and warm the skin up by rubbing over it.

Blue mumbles some more things that make Louis smile brightly and his eyes crinkle. His son reached out and caught his lip with one chubby lip, eanrning Louis' brightest laughter and peppered kisses all over the delicate skin.

"Are you hungry, Blue?" He asks, covering his yawn just in time for Bean to mimic him. "Sleepy?"

Blue fishmouths and looks up at him patiently, calmly breathing as he rolls onto his front. Louis leans down and kisses the underdeveloped curve of his back, nuzzling into the abundance of baby sweet scent. The bed sank behind his crooked legs and Louis did all he can to withhold a scream, curling his arm around Blue even though the baby was delighted to see the new face.

"Thank you." Louis says without turning around to look at Harry, letting Blue lean unsteadily against him to look over his side at the demon. "You protected my baby."

His little one is _priority_ , a life far more treasured and important than his own. Harry sat hunched in the darkness of the silent room, watching Blue babble at him while he didn't understand why. The child was fond of him. 

"And you." Harry's jumbled words were making sense to Louis' ears. "I protected you."

"Yes but-" Louis turns over to face the brooding entity on the edge of his bed, laying a restless Blue down between them. "-you didn't have to."

Harry frowns when Blue reaches out to pat his wrist, a child's innocence on display. Blue didn't know how ugly he was, how much of a dark creature he was born to be. Harry's demon flickered but it no longer frightened Louis.

"I needed to." Harry tells Louis, all whiteness disappearing from his eyes.

Louis takes Blue's hand away from Harry's. The baby becomes fussy for a short period of time before settling into Louis' chest, tired noises coming from his parted lips. Louis kissed his forehead and whispered a goodnight. Harry watched the interaction closely, his head slightly tilted to the side as Blue's incoherent voice made a sound so soft and sweet just for his mother.

 _"Amator mei. Dæmonium amator."_ He heard Louis gasp from sudden shock when Harry's cold lips met Louis' forehead in a kiss for the night.

"W-What?" Louis rarely misunderstood Harry. He was shivering slightly from mixed emotions regarding the most chaste yet meaningful kiss he's received.

Harry is gone by the time Louis opens his eyes from the kiss, a phantom of the demons's lips left stagnant against his skin.

  
* * * * *  


Louis was ashamed of himself.

It may not have been his fault but the mind where such a dream was conjured had been his own. He awoke to a bed void of his baby Blue, but was partially grateful for his state was dishevelled and embarrassed. The night prior had his mind filled with images of Harry - _a demon_ \- between his legs for the entire shift of the moon.

In his dream it was even pleasurable for him, the formidable individual having never parted their bodies and left him sorely sated. The hands that touched him were rough yet gentle, nails digging into his most private areas and teeth sinking into his sweet skin for a taste. He even remembers what Harry _felt like_ and it brought heat to his cheeks, recalling how thoroughly torn apart he was by the demon's body joined to his.

Louis stayed still, staring at the ceiling mindlessly. He was terrified yet hopped up on adrenaline. It went unexplained how he became so distraught, his skin overheated and flushed, nipples hardened and a definitive bulge in his sweats. 

Finally after a decent shower, Louis found the courage to go outside. He left the bedroom smelling like lavender and padded over to Blue's nursery. It was empty and he got worried, racing down the stairs to check the rooms below. On the last step he tripped and almost collided with the vile coldness of a hardwood floor, but arms caught him as light as the wind and he was hoisted to safety.

Louis huffed and withdrew from those arms, or atleast tried. Harry could be made of steel for all he knew. The demon peered curiously down at his resisting form, subuding his nerves with another kiss to his forehead. It's been something he's seen Louis do to Blue and thought it might help. The boy only gave up fighting for scrunching his nose. Since when did Harry smell like apples and spice? 

"You are careless." Harry pulled away from him and kept his step one behind Louis as they went into the kitchen.

"Why do you care?" Louis was indecently dressed but he's recently grown to not give a damn. His shorts failed to conceal his hairless thighs and his tank top was too large to cover anything on top. 

Harry stayed silent as Louis found Blue in his high chair and lifted him into his arms, the baby excited to see his mother. Louis cradled Blue with his sticky fingers from Cheerios and milk, kissing the baby's cheek and rubbing his foot.

"Good morning, my darling." He cooed at the youngest resident of this apartment. "How are we this morning?"

Louis felt something on his hip and choked on the air in his lungs when lips brushed his cheek. He watched Harry walk away after that, vanishing somewhere between the staircase and his bedroom. When he looked back down, Blue was laughing in his joyous and ignorant manner. Louis couldn't help but smile back.

  
* * * * *  


"Leave me alone!" Louis ran into the bathroom and slammed the door shut, locking it for emphasis.

He was having one of his bad days, when he remembers that almost everything he once had been stripped from his life. He remembers the sour reality that he's practically helpless if it came down to whether he could protect Blue or not. It was a vicious and unforgiving trial he faced too often nowadays.

Harry didn't understand the change is approaches. It's been a week of successfully replicating some of Louis' actions to Blue. Kisses on the forehead and cheek. At night, he'd wait until Louis fell asleep to curl around the sleeping boy just like Louis did with Blue. Harry even tried to _feed_ Louis once when the boy was so joyfully distracted by his baby. It was fish and chiips and Louis was too preoccupied with Blue to notice.

"This door is futile." Harry stood on the other side of it anyway to allow Louis some space. 

Louis was sunken to the floor in the bathroom, his back pressed up against the door. "You're gonna break it down?"

He opened his eyes to the unforgiving harshness of his own choice in a lightbulb. Standing there in front of the basin was Harry, arms crossed a grim expression on his face. The inner demon he withheld behind the pleasantness of a human face flickered to life, animating the angered look of the creature.

"Oh you're mad at me now?" Louis laughed humorlessly and wiped the dampness off from under his eyes. "Go ahead and be mad then."

From being seated on the floor, Louis suddenly went to being flattened by an enormous amount of strength on his own bed. He fought the grip on his arms and the pressure on his legs, thrashing about under a heavier body with a fierce concentration.

"Get off!" He protested, shouting at the top of his lungs to be freed. 

Harry wasn't kind to him. Bruises formed on his wrists and lower abdomen, his freezing cold skin digging into Louis' body. The worst reality came to life when Louis heard crying from Blue's nursery and he was still trapped. 

"Let me go." Louis was arching off the bed now, looking towards the door. "Stop, stop. _I'm sorry_ \- I need to get him."

The demon looming over him was studying the passionate change in Louis' mood. He held him down still and watched his skin turn pink, neck craning backwards. Harry leaned in without permission while Louis struggled against him and nosed lazily at the spot below the boy's ear. It smelt of sweet things and mortality. Harry closed his eyes and inhaled deeply.

Blue stopped crying as if taking indirect orders from Harry, quieting down in his room.

Harry crooked his finger and the door to Louis' room shut; he scraped his fingernail on the sheets and the lock clicked. He was a demon and nothing could take over him but the scent of this one person was making him lose himself. Louis had stopped with his minute mood fit and acted on his dream instead of being repulsed. He's trapped with Harry in here, has been for six months, and nobody was around to blame him for pulling the demon down and kissing him blindly.

Louis hadn't surprised Harry though he should have. He desperately worked to get the demon's shirt off, hoping to fool himself with this intimacy. Harry let him shove him down onto the bed, staring in awe at this magnificent boy getting on top of him. The demon was all on board for this, running his hands up and down Louis' body as more and more skin was revealed to him. 

Their sex was unplanned and far from cautious. Louis was worked open by long and deft fingers, taken on the demon's lap and fucked stupid by Harry's impressive length. He didn't give much thought to what Harry would feel like but he was _blown away_ for sure. Harry was long and thick, filling him up from the first thrust. 

Fingers threaded through Harry's hair and Harry held onto Louis' hips, his brow creased in concentration as he licked religiously into Louis' mouth. He flipped them over when Louis came once and never pulled out or separated their lips. Louis was a dream to be inside, to feel so intimately. His velvety walls caressed Harry's c*ck and they were clenching violently everytime he was close.

Louis screamed and chanted Harry's name without regret as he orgasmed a second time, coming across their middles. He was sore after that but Harry hadn't come once and he needed to fix that. 

"What's wrong?" He asked when Harry had him on his back, reaching up and framing the demon's face. 

Harry seemed to be thinking. "I can't release like this."

Louis panted, bare and with his legs spread at an obscene angle. He brought Harry closer and the demon obeyed by leaning into him. "Is this what you wanted all along?"

"No." Harry reached under Louis and cupped his right cheek, groaning from how good it felt. He bent Louis' knee and hiked his leg up. "But this is what I want now."

"Then-" Louis breathed raggedly. "-do what you have to. Just- _please_ \- I need you."

Louis slid his palms down Harry's back and he felt the skin get more chaffed, the knobs on his spine turn to blackened sunken hollows. He felt the transformation of Harry sinking effortlessly into what he truly looked like. Under his fingertips he felt the icy texture of Harry's exterior, vengefully raking his nails down the demon's back to hear his growl. Harry's hips were hard and suddenly bucked up against Louis' thighs, the erection inside him pulsating against his insides. 

"If I release inside you-" Harry panted into Louis' ear, warning him more than asking permission. "-you will carry my child."

There wasn't more than two seconds left for Louis to think that through, because Harry had dug himself deeper into him and warmth flooded his system instantly. Harry's seed was in copious amounts and Louis thought it felt like a knot with how long it took him to stop coming. 

The demon was softening inside him but refrained from pulling out, only tucking himself in deeper and fisting the sheets on either side of Louis' head. It felt _different_ to have Harry orgasm in him, better than anything Louis experienced before even if he was ashamed to admit it. It could be a mind trick that made him crave more of the demon but he's not giving up. 

"You're holding back." Louis didn't have to look at the demon to know he was resisting his nature. He pulled the covers up to partially hide their indecent state, bending his knees in the air to allow a better angle. "I want everything."

Harry's first chuckle was in Louis' ear. "You do not want everything."

"I do." Louis dug his nails into the flexing cheeks of Harry's ass, prompting him further. "You haunted my dreams, you know."

"I know." Harry's teeth scraped Louis' jaw and he hitched Louis' thighs up higher on his waist. "You want it all?"

Louis nodded greedily and squeezed his eyes shut. He let his jaw fall open and cried out from searing pleasure when the c*ck inside him inched deeper and expanded. The feeling was sensational and Harry ground his hips against his for added friction, the shuffle of their sheets and slap of skin adding ambiance to their atmosphere.

"How could you want it all from me?" Harry's palm cradled the back of Louis' head and he started thrusting again with an engorged c*ck, bruising Louis' walls. 

Louis whined when Harry uncovered his prostate again, pounding right into it with each buck. He curled his fingers and toes, throwing his head back as Harry slammed into him. It didn't stop, the rhythm never ceasing. Harry took him upward and onward, filling him up and marking him with his release. 

They went on for hours like that, seeking pleasure from one another. The demon had left Louis sore and immobile from the waist down after pulling out. Louis fell asleep almost instantly, leaking Harry's claim on him and lying on his front. Harry watched him for a while, feeling the need to get up and leave. He didn't though. He laid back down and curled around Louis' dozing form. 

It was only expected that they spent every night since that one pressed into each other's arms. Louis gave in wholly to the spell Harry cast on him, unable to keep away from him. The demon was more than appeased by this change in their _relationship_ and took advantage of Louis' neediness constantly.

"We can't keep doing this." Louis once panted after a glorious round of sex, while he was still on Harry's c*ck and they're both atop a washing machine. 

Harry didn't care. He let Louis sleep against him and kissed the top of his head. "We have to."

Louis wanted to kiss Harry so he brought their lips together. The taste of this demon in his mouth was foul but Louis was far too hooked on everything Harry gave him. He whimpered when Harry read his mind before he could beg and starting thrusted up into him. Their skin was overheated and Harry's come was lubricating the demon's jerky movements, biting Louis' lip and jabbing his tongue on the cut.

For a year after that, Harry treated Louis like the center of his universe. He watched the boy and Blue every minute of every day. The demon would guard them, cherish them. It was almost as if their whole life was a paradox. To make Louis more open with him, he chipped away at the boy's memory. He stole every recollection Louis had of George or any past relationships with family. 

Harry was his family and Blue was their baby.


	3. Chapter 3

Louis was humming. He could not fathom why and when he commenced in filling their apartment with such a musical note, but the subtle bliss can nonetheless be ignored. The time of day was an hour when dusk commenced, and Louis was sat on the panelled floor with his legs crossed at the mercy of his art. New paints sat in no particular order before him, beside them was a past plain canvas bearing the image of his baby’s tiny hands.

Gifts were his new paints from the other preternatural other in his home, the nightmarish father and guardian to his Blue then the life growing presently in his belly. The latter baby, under developed though it may be and can in no way argue with him, seemed to enjoy it greatly when he sang or hummed. They were as alone as can be this evening while Blue was upstairs taking a nap. Louis sighed to fill the silence and rubbed his slightly protruding tummy in loving strokes, staring out at the lives bustling about beyond the confines of his home.

Wind whipped about his neck in whispers of seduction and suddenly Louis was no longer about to lean against a cold, harsh pillar. Behind him where support could be offered, Harry materialised so that he may encircle Louis’ waist and hold the boy close.

“You have cleaned yourself already.” Harry’s visage was buried in Louis’ neck, breathing long and deep. The scent of mortality, such sweetness came with the tinge of frailty that Harry grew addicted. But beyond that was the sliver of something more tantalizing and what Louis only could ever possess: claim. “Why are you on the floor?”

Louis no longer feared leaning back and allowing Harry to carry his weight. There was never trepidation when he thought to close his eyes so the demon could rub his back. “I want to go outside.”

Harry grumbled something in his old, cursed language that made Louis giggle. “I offered you that in your dreams.”

“It’s not the same.” Louis’ nails dug into Harry’s thighs as he heaved himself into an upright position, his body cradled by a stronger one. Another set of hands roamed his slight baby bump. “I say you help your baby sleep tonight.”

“I will.” Harry nosed along Louis’ jaw, lowering his voice to a calm and human register. “My lover as well.”

Taking the demon’s hand, Louis placed it right where he wanted it and laced their fingers together. He let his head rest on Harry’s shoulder so that he may be at ease. “Lovers must share affection, Harry.”

“Do you doubt that I care for you?” Harry felt a prickle of heated anguish at such a profane implication. He hated to think of Louis as ungrateful.

“No.” The boy seemed to know his train of thoughts and at once eased the impending rage. “Why can’t I go outside?”

“Because the world does not remember your existence.” Harry abruptly drew Louis tight against him, an arm banded around the boy and his teeth latching on to mark permanently. He listened to Louis’ whimper and revelled in it, bathed in its fragility so that he may growl possessively. A palm remained on Louis’ abdomen where their baby will always be safe but Harry had him on his back now, startled blue matching a profound emerald. “You have all that you could ever want right here.”

“Oh yes.” Louis placed his hands on Harry’s naked torso, feeling phantom warmth seep into his fingers because that’s what he wanted. He gasped though did not fight Harry’s body settling between his knees, shielding him from all that threaten to harm him. “Thank you for the paints. You got me every colour.”

Harry’s other face flickered so Louis could see his lip twitch into as much of a smile as it could. The demon’s true form was marvellously horrific and very difficult to please except those times when Louis was the one to try. His pale, taut skin gave way to wrinkles as the demon showed his happiness and Louis, his astounding mate and lover, chose to grin back.

“I wish you’d smile some more.” Louis whispers, his lips within an inch of Harry’s as he spoke and their air mingled. “Blue loves when you do.”

“I will try.” Harry’s human features melt away completely from their neck upwards and Louis is left staring at the creature that condemned him to this life. Chosen as mate and restricted to these walls, a further test on Louis’ feelings was for Harry to display his true form so as to ascertain that those feelings were not false. Months ago, Harry stopped smelling any trace of fear on Louis. “You have given me much to smile about.”

Heat flooded Louis’ face and he glanced away, shy. Harry brought him back with his lips, trailing them down the boy’s neck. “Did really you desire another baby so soon?”

Harry withdrew and not to reject the question, but merely to gather Louis up in his arms and walk upstairs to the bedroom. He laid the boy down on the soft sheets and went to fetch clean sleepwear. “It is a great honour for a demon’s mate to bear him a child.”

“Only him?” Louis sat up when Harry crooked his finger, raised his arms when the demon made to change his shirts for him. “Are there no females like you?”

“No.” Harry looked into Louis’ eyes and saw grave curiosity. He began work on putting fresh sweats on the boy’s legs, chasing away the goosebumps by rubbing his thighs. “Ask anything you wish.”

“It’s not like…forbidden?” Louis’ beautiful eyes grew wide.

“Not to you, lover of mine.” Harry completed the task of putting socks on Louis’ feet and kneeled on the floor. A demon bowed this way, to display his loyalty and dedication. “Ask.”

Louis chewed his lip, cautious. Something haunted his flawless features and Harry made a note of every contour that was marred by distress so that he may lay his lips on each one. “You were never this way when I was having Blue. Are you…are you more committed because this baby is…you know?”

Harry made a sound of contemplation before sitting back on his haunches, capturing Louis’ calves in his hands. He pressed his face into the softness, closing his eyes in something akin to worship. “I stay with you now because you are my lover and mate, not only the latter.”

More frowning came from his beloved. “Do you not normally sleep with your mates?”

A horrible growl emanated from Harry’s other form, offended as it was and needing to convey its distaste. It settled with further nuzzling of Louis’ inner thigh, calmed by the reminder that its scent lingered here permanently. “Demons mate once and it is for life. Their mates are always mortal and must be able to have children. Blue is my baby by claim and affection, this unborn one is mine by right and blood.”

“Are you-“ Louis swallowed and brought one leg away from Harry, curling it beneath his weight. “Do you not love Blue anymore?”

Harry looked at Louis with a tilted head and confusion. “Blue is my son, my firstborn. I will care for him for an eternity.”

Louis didn’t know his heart was racing until it slowed, pacified. “Your name, it cannot be so modern. What is it really?”

The demon at his feet smirked, even the hostile other form. “To know a demon’s true name is to offer blood.”

“What?” Louis blinked. A brush of air unsettled the hair on his nape, like an invisible hand curling around his neck.

Harry drummed his fingers on Louis’ knee, staring intently up at the younger male. “A demon knows his own name once he cuts himself, offers blood to the one who made him. For you, lover of mine, to know I must have a vow of loyalty and devotion.”

Louis was unflinching when he crossed his legs on the bed fully and leaned down to frame Harry’s face, draw him up on his knees again. Their foreheads met and Louis teased Harry’s lip with a brief kiss that left the inner  demon in unease, purring like a beast that demanded more. “Let me show you how we humans make a vow like that.”

The demon was momentarily thrown when Louis extended his fist, uncurling only his smallest finger. Harry frowned  at him in bewilderment. Pinching the thin appendage between two of his own, Harry waited for an explanation of this oath.

“Give me your hand.” Louis asked, eyebrow quirked. Soon enough, he had their pinkies linked soundly and landed a kiss squarely on Harry’s pursed lips. “I promise to never tell anyone your true name.”

Harry, for the first and only time since Louis’ known him, looked cute in his positively confused expression. “No offering was made. How do I know this is effective?”

“No human has ever broken a pinkie promise, Harry.”

“Is it proven?”

“Yes.” Louis bit his lip and waited. “To break a pinkie promise is to ask for something like exile.”

“Most effective.” Harry gazed at their union. “I am….trusting you for I have no way of otherwise checking on this oath.”

Louis felt a hint of guilt gain momentum in his chest but kept his head clear. “Alright.”

Harry got up off the floor and nudged Louis back so that he may crawl onto his level, looming over him with a darkness that seemed custom for him. Louis felt the bed sink and then his head lay on Harry’s forearm instead of the comforter; his shirt lifted continually until Harry could settle a palm on the bare skin beneath.

“When a demon is born, they are celebrated by their creator declaring what their purpose will be throughout their existence.” Harry, expressionless and unreadable, kissed Louis’ forehead and let his warmth spread. “My creator named me _Rheaper._ ”

Louis tried not to react with a squeal at knowing Harry’s real name. _Rheaper._ His eyes slipped shut and his hands were on either side of the pulsing neck shown to him, his face tucked into safety against Harry’s jugular. “You gather souls.”

“Yes. In mass amounts.” Harry waited for the disgust that he must subdue. “It was my duty to take those who had owed favours to the Father of us all.”

“Was?”

“It is no longer my responsibility. I mated, I have young that I must protect. There is no place for me now in that realm.”

*    *    *    *    *

Somewhere between loading the washer and trying to reach for the right fabric softener, Louis was cornered by a grumbling demon. His demon. He had been surprised by the careless approach and dropped the powder so it scattered everywhere, only to have Harry haul him up into his arms as penance. Wide blown and black were the immortal’s eyes that bore into Louis’ as he pressed him into the wall.

Minutes later Louis’ voice was hoarse and he had nails biting into Harry’s arms, head tossed back so that he may scream where space allowed. Choked sounds of pleasure spilled from him as his body bucked and Harry took advantage of it, hands against the wall and the smaller male’s legs pried apart as wide as can go. Gentility lacked severely for Harry growled and pistoned his hips vengefully so that he fucked as hard as his heart desired.

Louis was screaming and Harry heard every shout like a mantra, bit the boy’s lip and pinned him securely. He had created a sticky mess between them but was nowhere near completion.

This beautiful human is his to own and by every drop of blood within him, those claimed and that which he stole, he will leave Louis remembering that fact also. Harry let his blunt teeth sink into Louis’ throat so that he may lap at the strong pulse under his tongue. His thrusts were deep and unforgiving, rendering an orgasm that shattered Louis’ sense of thinking. Moments later Harry grasped his thigh and pulled it higher up on his hip, starting to build a harsh rhythm again.

“Oh- Oh _Harry_!” Louis cried out in sensitivity. His body quivered as it constantly felt like it might slip from Harry’s security but the demon had him fastened perfectly between the captivity of his arms.

There could be no pleasure in the world to outrank this fast-paced passion that Harry never ran short of. A calloused palm at his neck and a hard slapping between his bruised thighs, Louis raked his nails down Harry’s shoulders so as to have the frail demon skin bleed a terrible deep red that sang of horrors. In retaliation, Harry jerked Louis higher in his hold and pinned his gaze with a power so keen on possessing every bit of affection from this boy.

He watched Louis take pain and satisfaction from him, every bead of sweat and each twisted cry. His lips sucked untidily on Louis’ neck and his fingers flexed to keep him held tight. “You know my real name, yes?”

Louis shrieked when Harry aimed his thrusts at a particularly sensitive angle and pounded away in a manner that left him pliant. He whined, high and demanding, fingers wet with blood from a healed wound on the demon’s chest. “Harder- Oh my- Please, Harry!”

Where his greed originated, neither knew. Harry snarled when Louis’ eyes closed and he dragged his tongue up to the boy’s earlobe. When he spoke, it was haunted. His hips froze where he was buried to the hilt inside his mate and he rounded them to worsen Louis’ stretch, groaning himself at the tightness that engulfed him. “You insult me, lover. I have given you my true identity.”’

He ground harder and so mercilessly that Louis throbbed in every private muscle he had, meeting the demon’s eye with no reluctance. “Make me come, _Rheaper_. Right now.”

A strange sound that can be mistaken as laughter burst through _Rheaper_ , his other face flickering like a dying bulb until finally it settles. Louis looks at his demon, and leans forward so their faces are aligned, his hands clasping those withered cheeks. _Rheaper_ returns Louis’ affections with tilting his head forward and running his palms down the boy’s arched back, settling on the pert shape of his bottom. He listened to a hitch in his mate’s breath when he began the kneading.

“You are so fiery, lover of mine.” He murmurs, meeting Louis’ lips briefly. They taste like the ash of his skin. “You ask it of me and it shall be done at once.”

*    *    *    *    *

Louis never asked why _Rheaper_ took to whispering a soft song to Blue every night while the one-year old fell off to sleep. Their tradition built from _Rheaper_ wanting to offer a gift to both his young and Louis’ desire to spent time with Blue before bed. The language in which he sang was foreign to Louis’ ears and he was now desperate to know.

 _“Rheaper?”_ Louis learned that his demon hated being directly addressed as anything but his birth title, and the false name soon fell away.

The other paused his melody and tilted his head beck to gaze at Louis. He was waiting.

“What do you sing to them every night?” Louis asked, watching _Rheaper_ shift from his position closest to the baby bump and guard Blue’s other side.

“A harmless tune I memorised early in my life.” _Rheaper_ leaned down like he was inspecting the infant between them, coaxing Blue into reacting to him. All he got was spit on his cheek from a sloppy, inexperienced kiss. “It is a way of showing respect to a demon’s own, as you are my own.”

“Oh.” Louis pulled the cover up to his chin and relaxed, something he found became easier when his baby was close. He fanned his fingers out over his bump in silent bidding of his other little one good night. “Have you ever been afraid?”

“Yes.” He hears from the demon. No hint of emotion laces his words, merely rigid truth. _Rheaper_ is not ashamed or wary of his past. “When faced with a demon stronger than myself, I always fear they can take from me what I cannot protect. There is no judgement for them because I was weak enough to lose.”

“Has that ever happened? Was anything ever taken from you?”

“Not yet but my security has been false up until now, lover. I had nothing to lose until I found you.”

*    *    *    *    *

Louis’ studio was a mess and for reasons unknown he allowed himself to slacken in the routine of cleaning up. Today was supposed to be the day he scrubbed the apartment from tip to toe in an earnest attempt to keep himself busy. Incidentally, he also suffered this day from a fever that left him bedridden where he was away from defenceless Blue.

Sweat streamed from every pore below his neck and his head weighed a steel ton atop the sluggish sensation his limbs were swathed in. It felt like death and Louis was not ready to succumb to such a threat, when there’s a life within him that trusted only he for protection. His maternal instincts were torn in two for he wanted to check on Blue at least once but there was no nerve in his body that allowed him the coordination to move.

There was no helplessness in _Rheaper’s_ eyes though. He lay beside Louis all day except when Blue needed attention, held onto his mate where his young was growing to soothe that little life at least. “I am sorry for your pain, lover.”

Sheets beneath him were drenched in perfumed sweat and Louis fought much to keep from scratching the invisible itch on his chest. He whimpered from the cool touch of _Rheaper’s_ skin on his forehead, leaning into him. “Why…..- Why is this happening _to me?_ ”

 _Rheaper_ could think of no more reliable a solution than to sidle up against his mate and offer slight solace. “Only growth, lover. That is my child you are with.”

Louis smiles because he could not help it. He finds _Rheaper’s_ hand on his belly and squeezes the demon’s fingers as a wave of torturous nausea sought an outlet. “Is my baby going to be alright?”

“Yes.” _Rheaper_ sensed Louis’ worry and fear like a plague and banished such frightful thoughts with a firm kiss to the boy’s temple. “She is most eager to meet you.”

“She?” Something glossy coated the tropical blue that coloured Louis’ eyes. His smile shivered. “A girl?”

“Yes, a female young that is most beautiful.”

“Don’t say it like that.” His exasperated mate caught Rheaper’s wrist and demanded aid in turning onto his side. Cold lips followed him there to rest against his throbbing pulse, an arm wound around Louis’ abdomen. “Say she’s your baby girl.”

“That is what I said.” The demon murmured, almost slurred.

“Word for word, _Rheaper._ ” Louis’ voice was a whisper though it thundered in the other’s hearing. He was exhausted and wilting, the plague too strong. “Say she’s your baby girl.”

No hesitation came from his companion. “She is my most beautiful baby girl.”

Louis’ smile was barely more than a withered twitch of his pale lips. “You will protect her.”

“I will guard her with every ounce of my strength. She will always be safe.”

One more. “You will love her.”

Something about the band of muscle around him seemed to grow taut, tense. Love is so foreign an emotion for a foul being. “I will…I will love her.”

*    *    *    *    *

 _Rheaper_ has found immense pleasure in his custom of tending to Blue in the earliest hours when Louis was still lost to land of sleep. The boy was immensely tired in the last trimester of his pregnancy and the demon tried to unburden him as much as he could. Blue as a sweet child that loved the few toys he had, one purple elephant in particular, and found that crawling all over _Rheaper’s_ lean form was an excellent hobby.

Such spell-binding Mediterranean orbs peer up at him patiently, awaiting the demon’s response to a gurgle of nonsense that was supposed to coax an answer. Blue got a little pat on the back so the baby kept shuffling about on his blanket.

“No.” _Rheaper_ frowned when Blue threatened to venture beyond the vicinity of his safe enclosure. He picked up the little one and held his giggling form close to reprimand softly. “You must stay near me.”

Blue’s eyes held a hint of mischief like Louis’ unique trait and his tiny hand caught ahold of the adult’s nose.

“A year old you are, little one.” _Rheaper_ united his knees and laid Blue down on his lap, on his back so their eyes were easy to connect. “We must find something else for you to do.”

Lips pouted unintentionally, Blue wriggled to battle the large hands holding his steady. Just like his mother the infant was sweetest on the eye when he fussed.

“You are to expect another yo-…another baby soon.” _Rheaper_ ’s whole hand could conceal the physique of the younger one. “She will need your aid with this lifestyle.”

Blue babbled with wet lips and brightly lit eyes focusing on the individual in charge of him. He grabbed onto the thumb brushing his chest.

“Have you tired yet?” Unsure of but not estranged to the care of a young one, _Rheaper_ cradled the back of Blue’s head in his palm whilst lifting him off his lap.

He felt his hair tangle in the child’s inexperienced fingers when he dared to kiss the spot above a beating heart, inhaling the sheer vulnerability of being so innocent. While Blue held on tight and babbled away to himself, his victim fought little against the blossoming urge to smile as it ended up being hidden against Blue’s tummy.

“I hope your mother expects me to love you as well, little one.” _Rheaper_ whispers kindly to Blue’s belly button. “I do already, it seems.”

*    *    *    *    *

**A YEAR LATER**

Precious little Emmaline came into Louis’ life and he had not known how utterly demanding a baby girl born from _Rheaper_ could be. It was impossible to predict beforehand and Louis was minutely worried for his baby Blue, who was not in the slightest as gifted Emma.

At least, it was Louis’ demon to call her gifted and celebrated the youngest’s capabilities. Emma was genetically half demon and she knew it in the way she hated her brother or preferred _Rheaper_ to Louis at any given moment. It broke Louis’ heart a little every day to be rejected continually by his own baby.

Her gifts were inherited from the seed that planted her, small special abilities that was birthed from unyielding power. There was nothing divine about the way she made Blue shriek with sobs because he levitated under her command, until Louis kept the latter only with him. He awoke once after the second night of doing so and found Emma staring at him from her perch on his chest. Since then he’s had the painless burn scars in the shape of her hands on his chest.

In the simplest way he could think it, his own baby terrified him. Maybe he could look past the vague horrors she made her brother face but her granted form was no less frightening. She was born with pitch black eyes that showed no white and had exquisite blonde hair, but her scalp worried her with sores and itches in the whole first month of life. _Rheaper_ was not one to forgo his responsibility and cared for her then. Her dimples were on both cheeks and a until two months ago, her fragile fingernails were not stained red like she’d taken lives even in Louis’ womb.

Night fell in the midst of a terrible storm that rocked the state and Louis was asleep with Blue against his chest, protected as most as his mother could manage. The wailing ensued from the nursery after Louis gathered three hours of dreamless rest, dragging him kicking and screaming out of the comfort. He opened his eyes and just about withheld his scream when deep-set emerald eyes glowed at him, their mood fixated on something unpleasant.

Across from him is where his demon laid, a ritual that never expired. _Rheaper_ needed to be beside both his children and his mate at equal times of the day, and his loyalty was appreciated. Louis yawned and rubbed his eyes lazily.

“She wants you to stop fearing her.” This from a low voice, like burning silk down Louis’ spine. The eyes he met were fierce and desperate. “We respond to fear with a thirst for more. If you are brave, she will learn to respect you.”

Louis said nothing as he rose from the bed and made sure Blue was properly insulated for this brief departure. He gasped when _Rheaper_ was kneeling before him again, cold hands clasping his shins and eyes concentrating gravely on him.

“Hear me, lover.” The demon sounded like he was pleading. He rose up on his knees and secured both sides of Louis’ face, suffering himself when the defeated look the boy housed was all that stared back at him. “She will do no harm to you or Blue but can sense that she is treated differently. Her intelligence is beyond her but her needs are primary. She wants you to love her.”

Blue eyes, ignited with a surprised blaze, rose to meet _Rheaper_ ’s gaze. Louis opened his mouth but all that came out was a slight sigh from the kiss he received, hard and bruising. He tasted the bleakness of having a soul like his demon’s and whimpered at the lingering aftertaste of faux blood. Strength materialised within his chest and Louis was nodding, returning _Rheaper’s_ passionate union with much enthusiasm before getting to his feet. He swayed.

“You are weak, lover.” _Rheaper_ bent and lifted Louis in the cradle of his arms, starting for the door. “You feed Blue but not yourself. You used to comfort Emmaline but not yourself.”

Louis was in the nursery when the crying got louder, deafening but harmless in itself. He was put down on a cushioned seat by the window before _Rheaper_ went to bring Emma, squirming and shouting at the height of her lungs. The storm outside was settling but the destruction had been done.

“Let her see you feed her.” _Rheaper_ got down on his knees and revealed their baby girl in her plain yellow onesie, her limbs flailing and face in a miserable scrunch from her hunger.

She held an air of formidable thrill about her and in spite of this, Louis finds himself enlightened enough to smile at her sweet face. Her eyelids peeled back when the uncompromising scent of her mother reaches her, a comforting embrace that she rarely got. Emma knew why that was so and her pouty pink lips parted as she took in his face now.

“Hello little girl.” Louis trailed his finger down her cheek and secured her in the crook of his arm, forgetting all the fear he harboured when those opaque eyes found his. They were simply the eyes of a baby.

Pale fingers held onto his wrist and Louis peeled off his shirt carefully when the door shut, leaving them alone. Emma’s lips fishmouthed but there was no extraordinary occurrence, merely him and her in the quiet night.

“Oh no.” Louis felt his eyes sting with the treat of tears when Emma’s mouth opened to nurse from him.

He hadn’t seen her teeth before because it was still too early at ten months to be teething, yet here she was with hideous pointed molars. _Rheaper_ never told Louis this was bound to happen and that it was the reason her gums bled almost every night for two months. She was in pain and her mother wouldn’t comfort her out of fear.

“My angel, I’m so sorry.” Louis held her close to him and heard his words being choked out over soft sobs. He kissed all over her beautiful face and rubbed her little hands while she drew milk from him, creating faint cuts on his skin.

Emma sensed her mother’s grief and finished nourishing herself quickly so that she could look at the lovely person who held her, whose heart ached when it should not. She had milky saliva that Louis swiped off her lips with his thumb, his eyes red-rimmed and oh so troubled. He raised her in his arms and let her rest where she could hear his heart, holding his unmistakeable gorgeous girl close.

“Sleep, my lovely.” He whispered while Emma sniffled and gripped his hair tight in her fist. “I won’t leave you.”

The child fell asleep in Louis’ arms and when dawn cracked over the horizon, Louis found himself drifting as well. He felt a weight in his chest, throttling and deathly as it banded the width of his heart, but when he slipped from the chair to the ground he made sure Emma felt none of the impact. The heaviness drowned itself soon after his fall, and little Emma was seeking warmth only from him.

*    *    *    *    *

Louis woke up when the sun was at its highest point and stretched like nothing ached in his body. He yawned and took a moment to stare blankly up at the ceiling before wriggling to his left caught his attention. Tilting his head to the side so it laid against the pillow, Louis was met with the faces of his babies. They were both unharmed and more excited than usual to crawl into his space.

“Darlings.” He kissed Blue’s cheek and curled his arm around the boy. Emma was lying on his chest again, chewing on nothing impatiently until Louis’ lips met her forehead and she settled. “Perhaps we should stay here for today.”

Emma smiled in her blissful manner, a horror only added on when her little teeth came into view. Louis held her as he turned onto his side and allowed both his babies a spot in the C of his body. Blue mumbled away to himself and Emma, a mini soldier like himself not at all scared of his sister. Emma replied by patting his leg or giggling. She didn’t know what she was in moments like these and no one was going to remind her.

 


End file.
